Saturday, March 29, 2014

Today’s guest author is Denise K. Rago, known for her paranormal romance novels. Here she shares some history and photos of a haunted hospital near her home in Morris Plains, New Jersey.

"They
have stripped me of my madness,

that disease had sown and cultured,

They
have granted me the spirit

and the will to smile in healthy gladness,

When
I’d once frowned like a vulture,

in six months time on Greystone’s verdant
hill."

~
Richard Davis Comstock, patient at Greystone,

from his book Rhymes of a Raver, 1930 ~

I know it as Greystone Park,
a sprawling complex of buildings set on a massive hill smack in the middle of
suburbia. Samuel Sloan’s New Jersey Hospital for the Insane opened its doors on
August 17, 1877, to 342 patients to accommodate the overcrowded “lunatic asylum”
in Trenton, New Jersey.

Greystone Park is synonymous with the famous Kirkbride
building, built in the Second Empire Victorian style, and at 673,706 total
square feet it alleges to be the largest continuous foundation surpassed only
by that of the Pentagon built in 1943.

The State Hospital at Morris
Plains, ca. 1899, Morris Plains, New Jersey

“Courtesy of The Morristown
& Morris Township Library,

North Jersey Historical & Genealogy Center”

The Kirkbride Building

~ Photograph
taken by Denise K. Rago, 2013

Nestled in the lush green
hills of Morris Plains, New Jersey; Greystone sat on 743 acres. The plan for the main building called for 40
wards split into two wings, one to house men and the other for women with the
center wing housing administrative offices. New dormitories were built to
accommodate the inpatient population and the grounds spread to 1000 acres to
include staff housing, a chapel, a post office, fire and police stations, a
working farm, vocational and recreational facilities, ponds, a morgue stables
and greenhouses. The hospital had its own quarry as well as gas and water
utilities.A trolley line connected the
hospital with New Jersey Transit.

Photograph of the train depot

taken by
Denise K. Rago

In later years, tales of the
abuse and neglect of patients were synonymous with the institution but in the
nineteenth century the belief was that 70 to 90% of insanity cases were
curable, however the proper architecture was essential for the comfort,
security and recovery of the patients. Mental
illness had been attributed to demonic possession and moral weakness, however,
Dr.Thomas Kirkbride, a Pennsylvania
born Quaker, believed that the mentally ill could be treated and cured with
kindness and care in an environment designed to treat them.

Greystone was just the place,
complete with airy rooms filled with Victorian furniture, housing only two
patients per room; however, to decrease the chances of fire, stone, brick,
slate and iron were used in the construction of the buildings. His design, called
the Kirkbride model, became popular around the country, written about by Carla
Yanni in her book The Architecture of
Madness.

Known to us locals as
‘Greystone’ it was once a place I would avoid, fearful of even driving near the
grounds. My mother would jokingly accuse my brothers and I of “sending her to
Greystone” with our bad behavior, which meant we were driving her crazy.It was an anomaly in our middle-class,
suburban world. A place for crazy people. And as rumors spread about the
patients and how they were treated, most people stayed away.

The hospital population
peaked in the 1950s with the return of soldiers from World War II suffering
from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Perhaps Greystone’s most famous patient
was folk singer, Woody Guthrie, committed to Greystone on May 29, 1956 with
Huntington’s disease, which he inherited from his mother.Guthrie nicknamed Greystone “Gravestone” and
called his hospital ward “Wardy Forty” for Ward 40. Although he was moved to a New York hospital
in 1961 where he died, his daughter Nora has joined in efforts to preserve
Greystone.

Photograph taken of an abandoned
building

by Denise K. Rago

Dormitory photo taken by author 2014

In the 1970s and 1980s,
trends in mental health shifted towards the deinstitutionalization of mental
patients, and by 2003 the hospital closed its door. There had always been much
bad press about the hospital, including stories of patient suicides, the sexual
assault of patients and a twice-convicted rapist escaping from the
hospital.In 1974, community homes were
built as halfway houses for the patients.

A new hospital has been
built on the same grounds and covers over one square mile and consists of 43
buildings.Though the historic Kirkbride
building remains standing its fate is unclear. An organization formed to
preserve the hospital and several of the historic buildings continues to work
with the State of New Jersey to take over vacant structures for non-profit
agencies.The County purchased Greystone
Park from the State for $1.00 while exploring its options for the park and
buildings.

Ghost Stories

Once abandoned, rumors of
hauntings clouded Greystone, especially involving the dank underground tunnels
which connected various building and were used to transport patients and other
commodities.I myself know of people who
have worked on the grounds, sharing their tales of “feeling watched” while
there or “not able to get out of there quick enough.”

Even while taking photographs, I stay in my
car and especially now that the grounds are patrolled daily by the local
police.Still, I cannot imagine the
landscape without the Kirkbride building. It is a part the community, for
better or worse.

Filmmaker Sean Stone, son of
movie director Oliver Stone, set his sights on making a movie on the grounds of
Greystone Park.Simply titled Greystone
Park, the filmmakers came here in 2009 to explore the haunted asylum
famous for electroshock, insulin therapy, and lobotomies; however the crew got
more than they bargained for and the film is based on their experience

Here
is a trailer for the film Greystone Park.

Weird,
New Jersey, a popular magazine, has numerous articles
written about the abandoned buildings, the possible demolition of the Kirkbride
building, and touring the asylum.Presently,
there are working non-profits on the grounds but the energy feels oppressive,
even on a sunny day.The Kirkbride
building has been used in numerous television shows and films, including Marvin’s Room and House, M.D.

Did Jack The Ripper Die in Greystone?

The title of the article in Weird, New Jersey stated, and I was
immediately drawn in further to an article published in 1923 in the Empire News about a Norwegian sailor
named Fogelma who was committed to the Morris Plains Lunatic Asylum in New Jersey,
better known as Greystone. Apparently he was subject to fits of rage and
insanity, describing scenes and incidents that clearly connected him with the
crimes of 1888 in London.His sister
also found press clippings in his belongings about the Whitechapel murders, and
although Scotland Yard was notified, no follow up was ever done.The archivist at Greystone said there was no
record of such a patient, and one wonders about the validity of the newspaper
article. But still it’s a great story and who knows?

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

My guest author today
is Anthony Hains, who wrote a great horror novel, BirthOffering.

Brian: Hi Anthony, welcome to my blog. Tell us about Birth Offering. What’s the basic
premise? And what compelled you to write this story?

Anthony: Birth
Offering is about a fourteen year old boy named Ryan Perry who has just
recently lost his father. He and his mom move to his grandmother’s coastal home
in South Carolina for a change of pace. Ryan isn’t thrilled with the idea, but
what can he do? Not long after the Perry’s arrival, Ryan is haunted by a
malevolent entity masquerading as his double. The hauntings become increasingly
dangerous with Ryan suffering injuries. It becomes clear that this specter of
ancient evil is intent on destroying Ryan. As if this wasn’t enough, Ryan
encounters an additional threat: two menacing boys and their caretaker somehow
connected to this other twin. Ryan soon realizes that in order to save himself
and his family, he must confront this unimaginable evil head on.

My inspiration for Birth
Offering came when we were vacationing on Edisto Island, South Carolina. We
(my wife, daughter, and I) spent a week there in August of 1995. At the time,
Edisto was not a crowd favorite like Kiawah Island, Hilton Head, and Isle of
Palms. Whole sections were undeveloped with beach houses and one relatively
small resort area. For all that I know, it may still be that way, which makes
it the best kept secret of the South Carolina coast. I hope so. One day we came
across the most beautiful road… unpaved and densely lined with live oak trees
that were shrouded with Spanish moss. Beyond the live oaks, there were
palmettos and other tropical kinds of bushes and trees. The impact of the
vegetation was practically cathedral-like. The oak branches met across the
road, and the sunlight barely peeked through the hanging moss. It was
breathtaking. My wife proclaimed it beautiful, and the only thing I could think
about was, “wouldn’t this be a cool setting for a passage in a horror novel?” I
visualized someone on the road being stalked, and then chased by something in
the vegetation which was gradually working its way towards the road. That
imagery stuck with me for years, and ended up in Birth Offering – almost exactly like I had remembered it years
earlier.

Brian: The islands off the coast of South Carolina sound
intriguing. I’ll have to travel there and explore them. Is anything in your novel
based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?

Anthony: Fortunately, the work is entirely based on
imagination. Of course, there are minor personal experiences that make it into
the book – like seeing the road in South Carolina which gave me the initial
idea.

Brian: I’m always amazed what you can come up with when you
tap into your imagination. What kind of research did you do?

Anthony: I tried to draw on my knowledge as a psychologist
to inform the emotions and behavior of my characters. So, I didn’t have to
research that aspect. For instance, my main character is a 14-year-old boy. I
am a pediatric psychologist, and have spent my career researching various
issues related to adolescence. However, when I came to sections of the novel
that involved some aspect of the plot that couldn’t be addressed by psychology
(and there were many), I was constantly searching the internet and trying some
personal mini-experiments to see if a certain sequence of events was possible.

Brian: Do you have a specific writing style?

Anthony: Since I am a psychologist and a university
professor, this means my writing style is that of an academic researcher.
Specifically, for the past thirty plus years, I have been writing empirical
research articles in APA format (American Psychological Association). In order
to write fiction, I had to be on my guard not to slip into scholarly manuscript
writing and instead wear my fiction writing hat. I am not sure what I would
call that style – since I am still trying to master it.

Brian: What books have influenced your life most?

Anthony: The most significant influences in the realm of
horror are probably the earliest ones. In my senior year of high school, two
novels came out nearly simultaneously: The
Other by Thomas Tryon and The
Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. While I had always been a horror movie
and monster movie fanatic as a kid, these two books more than any others
initiated me into the joys of reading horror. I still regard them as classics.
Since then I’ve enjoyed Stephen King for the most part, especially his earlier
works and, strangely enough, his very recent works.

In terms of non-horror, I can rattle off a number of titles
that moved me at the time I read them and still do today: To Kill a Mockingbird, The
Great Gatsby, and In Cold Blood.
Interestingly enough, I read these in high school as well. More recently, I
have enjoyed the three ‘Colorado’ novels written by Kent Haruf. His latest, Benediction, is an emotionally powerful
novel. Finally, Skippy Dies by Paul
Murray is probably one of the best books about adolescents. It is
simultaneously hilarious and troubling – and informed my fictional writings of
teenage characters.

Brian: Describe your path to becoming a published author.

Like many others, this was something I always wanted to do,
but I never saw it as a career. However, the initial “nudge” occurred way back
in my senior year in college when I took a short fiction writing course. For
decades after that class, I always tossed around plots in my head, and even
attempted to write once or twice. But, I could never sit still long enough.
Finally, about five years ago, I took the plunge and began writing fiction for
real.

Things really took off when we became empty nesters. I was
able to schedule regular times for writing and always had a plan to write a
certain number of words a day. I wasn’t focused on publishing the book, believe
it or not. I wanted to see if I could actually complete the task. Once I finished
a first draft of Birth Offering, I
thought “why not?” So I started investigating the idea of trying to publish the
book.

Needless to say, I was naive. The process was long and time
consuming – with tons of rejections for agents and publishers. Finally,
Damnation Books said ‘yes’.

Brian: Is writing your career or a hobby?

Anthony: I have a career as a
psychologist and professor. So, I cannot say I have a career as a writer too.
When I think of the word ‘hobby’, though, I think pastime.I wouldn’t say that either. I take it
seriously, and plan to continue.

Brian: How do you market your work? What avenues have you
found to work best for your genre?

Anthony: Like millions of others trying to promote their
work, I have turned to social media. I’ve created a web page where I attempt to
blog fairly regularly. I review other horror novels and novellas in my blog, in an effort to “give
back to the field”.I’ve joined GoodReads
and try to take part in some horror-themed discussion groups. My only problem
is that I do not have enough time to regularly contribute to those discussions.
There are some very knowledgeable readers in those groups, and I have learned a
lot from them. In addition, you will find me on Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, etc.

Brian: Can you tell us something you enjoy doing when not
writing?

Anthony: When I’m not writing, I enjoy
relaxing with my family and reading (often horror stories, but not always).

Brian: Do you have any advice for other writers?

Anthony: I wish I had some profound
advice for other writers, but I really don’t. The cliché responses are the best
I can come up with. Stick to it, don’t give up, carve out time for you to write
on a regular basis – every day if possible, set a goal… Those are the things
that have kept me on task.

Brian: Is there anything that you would like to say to your
readers and fans?

Anthony: Thank you for taking the chance to read an unknown
writer’s work.

Brian: Birth Offering
was a great debut novel. Do you have a new book coming out soon? Tell us about
it.

Anthony: I just completed the editing process of Dead Works with my editor at Damnation
Books. Dead Works tells the tale of a
teenager in therapy because he is seeing ghosts. I realize this sounds like the
movie The Sixth Sense, but the plot
is considerably different. My professional life contributed a chunk of the
source material. The psychologist character is a graduate student in counseling
psychology who was working on his PhD. The young therapist is doing his
practicum placement at the university counseling center and he is assigned a
teenage client who is seeing ‘things’.I
regularly teach a Practicum course where the students are being supervised
while they provide therapy. Much of the context for the novel takes place
within the counseling relationship between the teen and the student therapist;
the story is told from the graduate student’s point of view. The book was a lot
of fun to write.

Brian: Sounds like a
great story. I’m looking forward to when Dead
Works releases. Anthony, thanks so much for stopping by and sharing about
your books. For readers who have yet to discover Anthony Hains’ horror fiction,
check out Birth Offering which is now
available on Amazon,
BarnesandNoble.com
and wherever books are sold.

Anthony Hains is a
university professor in counseling psychology, with a specialization in
pediatric psychology – his research involves working with youth who have a
chronic illness. He is married with a daughter in college. Birth Offering his is first novel.

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About Me

Welcome!
Thanks for visiting. I'm a fiction writer who lives in Texas in the wonderful city of Dallas. I write supernatural horror. I enjoy mixing genres with history, romance, mystery, and nail-biting, dark suspense. My novels are DEAD OF WINTER, SHADOWS IN THE MIST, THE DEVIL'S WOODS, and novellas THE WITCHING HOUSE, DARKNESS RISING, and THE VAGRANTS. When not writing, I enjoy world travel, hiking, kayaking, reading, movies, and watching sports. My mission is to entertain and thrill millions of readers around the world.